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Joell Ortiz - The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)Album Review by:
Serge Fleury
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
 Now it seems that goal in Hip-Hop is to "bring the East Coast back", but in reality, the East Coast hasn't went anywhere. It's true that the spot light has dimmed a little bit on the Empire State, but this year's freshman class shows a lot of promise. One of the rhyme rookies turning heads this year, is Brooklyn native, Joell Ortiz. Often compared to the late Big Pun, Joell spits with the same amount of intensity; making it his personal goal to rhyme every word in existence. He opened a lot of eyes recently, by inking a deal with every Hip-Hop fan's favorite physician, Dr. Dre.
Although he's currently signed to Aftermath, he also has deal through Koch Records. "The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)" is his first release through Koch and his introduction to the world. The album starts off with "125 Part 1 (The Bio)", a five and a half minute, single verse barrage that will keep you rewinding, just so you can catch all the metaphors and punch lines. Over an eerie piano loop, he spits lines like; "don't confuse him with these other cats/he's a full workout/they 3 jumping jacks/if you nice, you nice/you can be Ethiopian rhyming for rice/you could be Haitian trying to rhyme for your rights/you can be South African writing rhymes for ice."
On "Caught Up" Joell explains the hard knock life of hustling with narrative lines such as; "this game is full of up and downs/ain't no guarantees/one minute ya pockets caked up like Sarah Lee/next minute/ya connects went dry like the Sahara be." "125 Part 2 (Fresh Air)" is a tale of how lower class struggle to get by everyday; "we play lotto/and hope that we hit our way out/I stopped chasing that dream/my legs gave out."
Styles P appears on "Time Is Money", (which happens to be the name of his sophomore LP). The Ghost and Mr. Ortiz do a good job feeding off each other as they basically explain why time is money. "Keep On Calling" features the Nate Dogg of the 21st century, known to most as Akon. With Akon echoing in the background, Joell Ortiz talks about his adolescent years; "the girls didn't like me/cause I ain't had Nikes/my head wasn't spicy/a hair cut was 5 beans/I only had like 3."
"The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)" features solid production that gives you that gritty New York feel, with outstanding lyricism. The only problem now is waiting to hear Joell Ortiz over the The Doctor's historical sound.
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